Accident
by GlowingGreenEyes
Summary: April is accidentally seriously wounded during a fight. Slight DonniexApril / Apritello [one-shot?]


[edit - 10/29]

**Accident**

April O'Neil looks down. The cool night breeze shifts her hair over her face. Her tessen slides from her fingertips as if in slow motion, but she can't stop it. The metallc reverberations of the loud clang it makes as it strikes the rooftop are strangely mesmerizing. A blur of quick movement catches her eye.

She blinks and it is dark for what feels like a very long time. When she opens her eyes, the world has shifted. Her vision is filled with darkness, stars and a faint trace of city smog. The cement is cold and hard against her shoulder blades and her head is pounding a steady beat of pulsing agony. Her jaw feels stiff and its taking a lot more effort than usual to suck in air. There is strange tingling feeling everywhere below her ribcage. A chill runs through her when she can't immediately recall how she got here... her memories are fragmented, kaleidoscopic, confusing. It seems like the last thing she remembers must have happened hours ago. She shifts a hand and comes into contact with something wet at the side of her waist. A sudden flash of clarity—

_She's one-on-one with a foot clan member. She's worked up a sweat and her limbs are starting to ache, but so far she's been holding her own. With an intricate flick of her wrist, her tessen switches hands and she delivers an upwards slash that knocks her opponent down. She'll have to thank Splinter for that move later. She spins to face the next customer in line and stops short. Something impacts her from behind—her lower back..._

—"LEO!"

April is jolted back to the present. Sound rushes back to her before vision, and she doesn't need to see to know that it is chaos all around—shouts, yelps, weapons crashing together. A large, trembling hand is hesitantly touching her shoulder. Turning her head. Stretching her arms out straight.

"April... April." A strained voice.

Bright green eyes come into focus hovering above her. She blinks. Red mask. Those are Raphael's eyes, but they look so scared, they can't be his eyes. She blinks again. It is Raph.

"Raph?" the redhead mumbles. Her tongue feels thick and uncoordinated in her mouth and it hurts to move her jaw.

He shuts his eyes tight like his name from her mouth is a slap in the face. The reaction is confusing to April. Her eyes wander to his hand. It's clenched tightly around a sai. The longest blade is dark and shines wet in the moonlight. _Oh..._

_Something impacts her from behind, in her lower back. To the left. She reaches her hand behind her on instinct. It comes into contact with the handle of a weapon. An explosion of pain. Stars burst in her vision. She gasps and retracts her hand. Looks down. Sees the last inch of the sai protruding from the front her lower abdomen. Intense prickling numbness is rapidly seeping into her body. She drops her tessen. She watches it fall, as if from far away. The foot member she was spinning to face takes this opportunity to deliver a powerful roundhouse kick to her jaw..._

—"OW!" a yell wrenches itself from her as a fire has suddenly been ignited in her midsection. Her eyes burst open (were they closed?) to see Raph again. He's leaning over her. He's pressing a large hand over her middle and she desperately wishes he'd stop it, but she's so dizzy she can't think straight right enough to form a sentence.

"LEO!" the turtle yells without looking up from his task. April can't help that her breathing has turned into more of a constant stream of whimpers. Raphael makes a desperate, frustrated sound. He finally lets up on the pressure, earning a sigh of relief from April. Her muscles relax a little. Now there's just a dull throb. Not like that incredible burning—"AH!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, April," Raph's tone is pleading. She hates that tone coming from him. It's not right. He's not looking at her face; he's concentrating on what he's trying to do. April notices one of his wrists doesn't have its wrappings. He has the length of cloth in his hands. He's trying to tie it around her middle, but it's awkward, and he's trying to get the material around her back. His hands are clumsy, rushed; they aren't practiced in delicate work, like Donnie's. She understands; he's doing his best...

He has to lift her up slightly to wrap the cloth around her back, and when he does, the pain sends her reeling into darkness. She doesn't even know how to classify the sound that comes out of her.

April's vision clears again and at first she thinks she must be dreaming. There are trails of wetness darkening Raph's red mask and streaking his cheeks as he finishes tying the material in a knot with shaking hands. She wants to reach up and touch his face to confirm that what she is seeing is real, but her arms are lead. He yanks the cloth as he knots it again and the jolt sends another yelp from the girl. The sound seems to drive the normally tough turtle to a new height of panic.

"LEO!," Raph is screaming, "LEO! DONNIE!" He's looking around for his brothers.

"Raph!?" Leonardo's voice is here now, urgent but in control, as always; this is comforting to April. "What—"

A hitched, wet inhale draws the leader's gaze down to its source.

"April!"

He's kneeling next to her in an instant. His broad, cool hand is on her forehead. Gentle, steady. She watches as his serious blue eyes study her for a moment. Then he looks to Raph in silent askance. His brother looks miserable, helpless.

"It's my fault," he moans. "Fishface, he kicked my sai right out of…" He stops, shakes his head, "I'm so sorry, April."

The blue-masked turtle frowns and briefly grasps his brother's slumped shoulder. April can't let this continue. She musters the strength to protest.

"Raphael," she interrupts as loudly and assertively as she can manage. Two turtles look at her, alarmed, but April's wearing her best determined expression, so they lean closer to listen.

"Ss'not your fault, ok? It was—ah... accident, and I… signed up f-for this," she says haltingly, wincing through the words.

Raph looks even more broken, if anything. Leo pats her shoulder lightly; he's about to tell her not to try to talk, she can tell. But she has to say this one last thing before she passes out again.

"You guys…. L-love," she swallows thickly to clear the blood from her tongue, blinks hard, "Love you guys."

Raph shuts his eyes like he's in pain again. April doesn't remember starting to cry, but her cheeks are wet now. Leo's eyes are shining, but tears don't fall. They are as sharp and serious as ever.

"We have to get her out of here," he tells Raph firmly. Raphael only nods, mute, transfixed.

Leo turns back to April, gently places a hand on her head again, "You're going to be fine." She stares at his pretty, deep blue eyes. The way he says it, April believes him. That's why he's leader.

"Try not to go to sleep, okay?" he asks of her. Of course. For Leo.

She nods weakly—a promise—and Leo gives her the tiniest of smiles, nods once. Then he disappears from her view. She can tell Raph is still there by the sound of his breathing, but he doesn't move or say anything. April tries to concentrate on counting stars to stay awake. Problem is, the sky is spinning and the stars are streaking together, which is only making her feel nauseated. She clenches her eyes shut and bites down on her tongue, hard. She counts Raph's breaths instead.

The drop in noise level a few minutes (exactly 82 exhales from Raphael) later suggests that the fighting has finally died down. She opens her eyes and is relieved to see that the spinning has calmed to a slow revolution. She tilts her head to the side in time to see Donatello emerge from behind Leo. Pain-dulled aqua connects with mahogany. The purple-masked turtle's eyes widen and he freezes for a whole second. He bo staff rolls from his slack grip. April winces as the wooden clatter ricochets off the inside of her pounding head.

One blink later and he is kneeling at her side. She looks up at him and tries to give him a smile, but it ends up lopsided and trembling.

"H-hey," she exhales.

Raphael gets up and backs away slowly, he can't look at Donatello or this moment. Leo holds an arm out to stop Mikey. The youngest turtle hangs back and looks on with wide eyes, but without argument-quiet for once.

"_April!" _The way Donnie says it makes something twist tight in the redhead's chest. He repeats her name over and over, and each time is another twist tighter. Her breath hitches when he tenderly brushes her sweat soaked bangs from her forehead. She focuses on his reddish-brown eyes. They are warm and comforting, but unlike Leo's, they do not hide his emotions well as he takes in the full extent of her injuries. The purple-masked turtle's gaze travels down to her cloth wrapped middle and the fear becomes clear on his face. Blotches of dark red are beginning to bleed through. Leo moves to hover behind his kneeling brother, anxiety leaking into his composure.

"Not as bad... as it looks, r-right?" April feebly tries to joke. She just can't stand that look on Donnie's face. Though it comes out strained sounding, she actually finds it easier to speak now. Probably because the pain in her gut has mostly been replaced with numb non-feeling. This is both a relief and deeply scary. She tries to only focus on the relief part.

"Exactly," Donnie says softly, tearing his eyes away from her wound to give her a soft look. She swallows too hard, and her middle chooses this moment to remind her of the hole stabbed through it. Her back arches a little as the pain ripples upward, forcing a groan out between her clenched teeth.

Donnie inhales sharply and goes rigid for a moment. April opens her eyes again. She recognizes the familiar shift in his face as he slips into concentration mode. He inspects her middle for a while, being careful not to move her or press too hard. Then he carefully takes one of her hands in his larger one... holding her wrist. She belatedly realizes that he is measuring her pulse. A frown twists his face, and he moves his other large green hand to her neck. She watches through a haze. The hand moves from her neck up to frame her face. She can't help but press into the touch. The hand is cool and she feels like she's burning up. Her body gives a shudder.

"Donnie?"

The turtle's grasp on her hand tightens a fraction. He makes a promise with his eyes. "I'm going to take care of you, I promise, April," Donatello's expression is solemn and resolved. He doesn't blush at all when he says it. April attempts a feeble smile and her vision is watery again.

Leo grows impatient, "Can we move her?" he asks in a hushed tone, hand on his brother's shoulder. Donnie nods, expression stony.

April watches groggily as Donnie leans forward. A cool pressure on her forehead, brief. She realizes it's his lips. She jumps a little at the contact. He's never done that before...He whispers there: "I'm sorry about this, April."

With that, he pulls back, and in one smooth movement, sweeps her up into his arms. April can't help the strangled yelp that escapes her as her wound twists and stretches, even as gentle as Donnie is. Pain bursts outward like a firework speading from her core. Her head lolls onto the tall turtle's shoulder and her body goes limp. The blackness rushes in and she doesn't feel anything at all for a while.

_"Hold on, April, please hold on…"_


End file.
